Abstract
Whereas research on cognitive bias modification of attention has produced promising results, it remains unclear how and for whom such techniques may be most effectively implemented. This study examined how trait rumination moderated the effects of two attention training tasks on biased attention, assessed via eye tracking, and subsequent stress reactivity. Using a modified dot-probe task, participants were trained to develop a negative attention bias, a positive attention bias, or no attention bias. Though neither the train-negative nor the train-positive conditions produced significant main effects on attention biases or emotional reactivity, rumination was found to moderate training efficacy, such that train-positive participants reporting high levels of rumination demonstrated greater early-stage positive attention biases at post-training, as compared to controls. Further, train-negative and train-positive participants who reported low levels of rumination demonstrated greater positive affect following an acute stressor as compared to controls. Theoretical and clinical implications of results are discussed.
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Notes
For information on specific stimuli used in the attention training task and/or in the assessment of attention biases, please contact the first author, Kimberly A. Arditte, at karditte@psy.miami.edu.
Though a systematic examination of the moderating effects of depression and social anxiety symptoms were beyond the scope of this paper, analyses were conducted to ensure that the reported moderation effects were not driven by either of these related constructs. To do this, zero-order correlations were used to examine the relation between self-reported depression (Beck Depression Inventory, Second Edition; Beck et al. 1996) and social anxiety (Social Interaction Anxiety Scale; Mattick and Clarke 1998) symptoms and all outcome variables. Depression was significantly associated with post-training FC for positive stimuli (r = .24, p = .046), but no other pre- or post-training eye tracking indices (all p’s > .10). Social anxiety was not related to any of the eye tracking variables at pre- or post-training (all p’s > .10). In addition, depression was significantly associated with negative affect at baseline (r = .31, p = .002), whereas social anxiety was related to negative affect following the stressor (r = .55, p < .001). No other relations between depression or social anxiety and affect at baseline or stressor were found (all p’s > .10). Where significant relations were found, depression and/or social anxiety were controlled for in moderation analyses. This did not impact any of our original results. Rumination still did not moderate the NAB condition’s effect on subsequent negative affect (β = .03, t [84] = .19, p = .85 and β = .05, t [44] = .27, p = .78 when controlling for depression and social anxiety, respectively), nor did it impact the PAB condition’s effect on FC for positive stimuli at post-training (β = .11, t [56] = .54, p = .59).
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Arditte, K.A., Joormann, J. Rumination Moderates the Effects of Cognitive Bias Modification of Attention. Cogn Ther Res 38, 189–199 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10608-013-9581-9
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10608-013-9581-9